General thoughts, random rants, and questionable tips & advice from someone who is too young to be a curmudgeon, yet is one.

Quote of the Week

"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils."

- Woodrow Wilson

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Solving The World's Problems, One At A Time: Same Sex Marriage

If I were king of the world, or at least Dictator For Life of my own little island nation, I could solve the world's problems. Granted there are few simple problems and many (most) people won't agree with my solutions, but I still think I have some good ideas.

If I were king of the world, I would make a decree that there shall be no law banning a form of marriage. I would also say there shall be no law legalizing a form of marriage. There would be no tax advantage or any other incentive to get married, other than the marriage itself. That's it people, the problem would be solved.

You see marriage, your marriage, other people's marriages, or how you view marriage to be is a personal matter. In other words nobody else's business, especially no business of the government. Even though some people view marriage as an exclusive thing to their religion, marriage is a term and a form of commitment that transcends many religions and cultures. Different people from different cultures and religions (or no religion) have different customs, practices and ideas of what marriage is.

Besides, if the government steps in and says only some types of marriage shall be recognized, or decides to recognize a marriage that many don't and forces them to accept a marriage that's against their religious beliefs, isn't that a big ol'breach of separation or church and state?

With the government not taking a stance on the subject of marriage, the people will be free to decide for themselves. Which they, for the most part, all ready have. Most churches have publicly stated their stance on gays and same sex marriage. Some accept gays "into their flock" while others shun them. So we already all have options to make everyone happy.

If you are for gay marriage and belong to a church that accepts it, you're all set.
If you are for gay marriage and belong to a church that does not accept it, find a different church.

If you are against gay marriage and belong to a church that does not accept it, you're all set.
If you are against gay marriage and belong to a church that accepts it, find a different church.

If do not belong to a church, then you're all set. You don't need a church's approval to tell the world that you are married, or to who you are married to. There are plenty of non-denomination ceremonies for you to choose from.

In short, if you're gay and you want to say you're married, say you're married. If you don't believe gay people should get married, then don't believe their marriage is valid.

Now I do know people take a firm stances on this issue. I know plenty of people on both sides of this issue and I feel I understand where they are coming from. But the bottom line with this item (along with many of the world's problems) there is no one all end all argument that will make everybody feel the same way on this. Face it, people are going to disagree with you and that's that.

If you are wondering, my personal stance is this: I don't care. I don't care if some one is gay or straight. I don't care if someone is married or not. It really doesn't effect me one way or the other.

Yes, the Bible says that gay is a sin, but so is lying, cheating, stealing, adultery and a host of other things. Does this mean people who commit adultery should be banned from marriage as well? ....well that would actually make a lot of sense the more I think about it... but that's another topic.

The point I want to make is: if God has a problem with someone because they're gay, that's between the person and God. And if that person gets married, it doesn't change things at all. I was brought up a Christian, and was taught (at least what I picked up) to leave the judging to God. The way I see it, if you don't like gay people for being gay, fine, just don't be a jerk about it. Same thing goes to you people who have a problem with people with conservative religious views. Like I said above, people are going to disagree with you and that's that.

Forcing your views onto someone else will never work as good as you want, even if you are truly completely absolutely right. The best you can do it be respectful of others regardless. Remember you can always roll your eyes and call them an ass behind their back.